A brief-yet-ongoing journal of all things Carmi. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll reach for your mouse to click back to Google. But you'll be intrigued. And you'll feel compelled to return following your next bowl of oatmeal. With brown sugar. And milk.

Walking in the reflective surf

I think I need to move somewhere closer to a large, preferably oceanic body of water. I live less than an hour's drive from two Great Lakes, but somehow, the lack of major waves and eye-stinging salt takes away from the epic feel of the place when you stand in that incredible spot where land gives way to water. There's a feeling you get when waves wash over your ankles that's unique to a big beach on a big ocean. My life doesn't fit this now, but I hope someday it will.

The realities of life, however, didn't stop me from spending some much-needed creative time in the surf on this, the last day of the year. The light was terrible - muddy overcast that got brighter and darker almost by the second thanks to the unpredictable and fast-moving cloud cover - but given how rarely I get here, I didn't want to let that stop me. So I wandered into the crashing waves and started shooting.

It didn't take long for me to get lost in the moment, focused intently on the fast moving forms, talking myself through each set as I dialed in different settings and fired away. While I came away from the experience with pictures, it's the memory of what it felt like to be completely in that moment that I wish I could hold onto. I don't know how to replicate it here, now that I'm back in a cold climate filled with the often-conflicting pressures of everyday life.

But I'll certainly try. Because as I wildly followed the waves through my lens and felt the power of this place through every nerve ending I had, I realized this was the first time I had felt remotely like myself in months. I didn't want it to end.

what's with photographers wanting to move to the water? But it does seem to be the case...

being In The Moment is, i belive, a skill we can learn/ be taughtmaybe thoughafter being asked what we're paying good money for/ spending time on...maybe telling people that we're learning how to Be in our moments isn't quite as special as it felt...when you were in the water